dogwatch
Premium Platinum
These are all legit questions.
Regarding the injury review - yes it's theoretically possible that we were doing things really badly and that the internal review has resulted in this being corrected so we have suddenly had a good run with injuries. And all of this without a word of it being leaked in a notoriously leak-prone sport. You can tell I think that's pretty unlikely, although I also have little doubt that at least some minor changes would have been made as a result of the review. That's pretty normal. Golden_6 made a valid point regarding Richmond and Collingwood - have they suddenly become really bad at managing the physical condition of their players? More likely they have been subject to the same bad luck we've had for 2-3 years.
The assistant coaches issue is a bit more debatable. I have been one who has had concerns. However the only thing we know for sure is that at least 99% of us are just guessing - and in some cases joining dots that are unrelated. Once again there's always room for improvement but it's a bit rich for us to sit back and say the club has got it totally wrong and the fix is so obvious that we can see it from here behind our keyboards, while they can't.
There have been some cases where the club has got it totally wrong - the Brendan McCartney contract extension comes to mind. The early critics of the club and BMac got it absolutely right. It doesn't happen often but it does show why it's legit to be able to air grievances about the club.
It's the nature of conspiracy theory - like any good delusion - that they can always adapt to a factual refutation by altering the narrative to suit the circumstances. I love a good conspiracy theory but generally it's only as a bit of fun with just a slight edge to it (eg my occasional rants about the AFL). The adaptability of conspiracy theories mean that they are zombies and can never be quite killed off - Hitler is still alive and living in Argentina, the whole man-on-the-moon project in 1969 was an elaborate hoax by NASA, Harold Holt was abducted by a Russian sub, the CIA organised the twin towers tragedy, global warming is a fraud perpetrated by scientists so they can get more funding, etc etc.
tl;dr ....
Balanced scepticism is a healthy thing and it's fine to question the club on how it goes about its business. However it needs to be done with commonsense, a bit of perspective and some respect for those who spend their whole working life inside the club and the footy industry. They might not always get it right but they know a lot more about it than most of us are ever likely to.
